A full day of action is promised during the annual Phakisa 200 meeting at the Phakisa Freeway between Welkom and Odendaalsrus when the regional Festival Round 5 takes place.
On Saturday (10/09) a broad variety of classes is bound to entertain, but the weekend highlight will be the “triple two kilometre” Phakisa 200 for the two Car Care Clinic classes. Open to both Superhatch and 111 GT Sports and Saloon competitors, the annual Welkom endurance race requires each car to make a pit stop and remove or replace at least one wheelat least . Also, any car beating its class lap time limit will be penalised a drive through penalty.
The biggest race of the year for both classes, the Car Care Clinic Superhatch 200 action, should be between Class A crew, Jonathan du Toit and Louis Scholtz’s Honda Civics, Welkom hero Lenard Archer’s Hyundai Getz, Andre Dannhauser’s Opel Corsa, Karel Stolts’ Toyota and Francois Henning.
Nic Martin’s Peugeot and Melanie Spurr’s Polo will continue their Class B spat and Devon Piazza-Musso’s Polo and Francis Aldrich are the Class C participants to take note of.
Johan Hattingh and Harry Arangies’ Nissan Z-cars, Phillip Meyer and Graham Obery’s Porsche 924S, Johan van der Vyver’s Subaru, Mark du Toit’s Z4, and Wouter Roos’ Golf should get the Car Care Clinic 111 running.
Nimbler cars are always an endurance threat though, so watch for Golf owners George Economides, Adrian Dalton, Louis Scholtz and Wayne Lebotschy. Maritz le Roux’s BMW and Didi Matjula’s Polo are worth keeping an eye on as well.
The Pabar VW Challenge should have over 45 cars on the grid. Some of those may only have missed the act of racing, but others are certainly out for revenge. Class B sensation Hannes Scheepers holds a scant four-point title advantage over Class A leader Rory Atkinson, with Class A challenge veteran Wayne Masters up to third.
Class C leader, Ian Walker, missed the last race, but he is back to face off against the charging Pierluigi Muzzulini. Also watch out for Stiaan Kriel, Waldie Meintjes and Bevin Masters in Class A. Class B ladies Charisse van der Merwe and Elna Croeser will be out to dethrone Scheepers in Class B, as will Bevan Williams, Anthony Pretorius and Karshin Naidoo. The Class C contestants include the competitive Mark Castell and quick Dino Smit.
The exciting National Challenge DOE Formula Vee series will join Phakisa’s Regional Festival, with Grandpa Peter Hills out to continue his dominant form in East London. Rest assured that son and dad duo, Lendl Jansen and Brandon Hills, Gert van den Berg, Hills’ former motocross rival Greg Wilson, Shaun van der Linde and Jaco Shricks will all be competing.
Jeffrey Kruger and Thomas Falkiner will continue their fraught, season-long Lotus Challenge spat. They will have JP Nortje, Matt Nash, John Kruger, Mackie Adlem, David Coetzee and Sean Hewitt running interference in this hard-fought Lotus 7-based class. Davide Favo, Miles Downard, Andre du Plessis and Andrew Fulton should be among the contenders for Locost honours.
The On Track Magazine Clubmans once again share Phakisa’s grid with the National Sports Collectors Convention (NSCC) sports cars. Stuart Mack’s Shelby Can Am, Paul Sullivan and Gerald Wright’s Nashes, Klippies Krige and Adriaan Le Roux’s Sevens head the NSCC charge. Eugene Gouws’ Chevy Can Am, Phillip Meyer’s Porsche and Johan Labuschagne in a Subaru, lead the Clubmans’ group. Rodney Kruis, Dirk Lawrence and Tjaart Visser’s Ballades, Wayne Lebotschy, Wayne Pereira and Fred Kruger’s Golfs and Duane Brown’s Fiesta will give chase.
Finally, the BMW M Performance Parts Race series joins the Phakisa 200 Extreme Festival. Adrian Dalton, Sav Gualtieri, William Einkamerer, Arrie van der Berg and Fabio Fedetto can be expected to set the pace up front. Andreas Meier, Jagger Robertson, Carlo Garbini, Salvi Gualtieri, Nic van Zyl and Oz Biagioni will fight it out in Class B. Matthew Wadeley, Renier Smith and Hein van der Merwe are in Class C, Shane Grobler and Varish Ganpath head up Class D and Bernard De Gouveia Class E.
The Phakisa 200 Festival promises a full day of action on and off the track and provides on Saturday 10 March. Sounds like a great reason for a road trip to the Free State.
